Guest writer - 7 secrets of the Super Organised By Marcia Francois

7 secrets of the Super Organised

By Marcia Francois

We all know people that seem to be Super Organised. They never forget birthdays, can find an email within seconds and know exactly where to find anything in their homes.

The actual definition of organised is being able to find anything within a minute or two. These are items in your home to an email, document or photo on your computer.

Shhhh - I have a confession. Some people say this about me too ;) so I'm going to let you in on some of my own secrets and also those I've observed from watching fellow Born Organised people.

Super organised people:

1. Plan their lives

Set aside time every weekend to plan your activities, events and meals for the week ahead. Before you finish up your work for the day, take 5 minutes to quickly plan your main priority tasks for the next day.

2. Have a place for everything and everything in its place

Everything in your house should have a specific home. The goal should be that if anyone asks, "where do I find the _____?" you should be able to tell them immediately. I'm talking about paper too!

3. Have effective systems, and are willing to change systems if necessary

A system tells you what to do when something happens. For instance, as you run low or finish foods, they immediately go on your shopping list. That's a system. The morning and evening routines we work as part of the Organise your Time system are perfect examples of effective systems.

4. Write things down

My pastor always says, "a blunt pencil is better than a sharp mind." The truth is when you write things down, it clears your mind so you can focus on more productive and creative endeavors.

5. Declutter regularly

Make time to go through your clothes and other possessions and then get rid of anything you don't love or use regularly. Make a regular date to also declutter your documents and emails.

The Organise your Home system is an easy-to-use plan to declutter and organise your entire home in just 12 weeks. Read more here

6. Put things away

If you take just a few minutes to put things back where they belong (see number 2) every day, you always have a home that's comfortable and ready for company. In the office, take two extra seconds to file or delete an email immediately.

7. Do regular maintenance

Preserve your organising systems by doing a quick touch-up when you see things start to go awry. It's like touching up your roots every 6 weeks ;) Don't wait and let it get so bad that you have to totally overhaul your system.

Start building just ONE of these secrets into your daily routine every week until you create a habit and you too will be Super Organised ;)

Want to use this article in your ezine or on your blog? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb.

Marcia Francois is a time management coach and speaker who inspires busy women to break out of overwhelm, make the most of their time and take purposeful and focussed action so they have the time and freedom to live life to the full. Visit  http://purposefultimemanagement.com  for your free Time Management Purpose Pack.

If you'd like to schedule a f.ree 15-min session with me to start you on the organising journey, email me on marcia@organisingqueen.com. I'd love to chat.

Love and time freedom

Marcia Francois

Time management coach and speaker

http://purposefultimemanagement.com

Bloging, the purpose of having a blog

Recently I was talking to a long distance friend, a great entrepreneur with an open mind; we got talking about having a blog, because I'll tell you, he has a bunch of great ideas he can talk about.
I promised to send him an article I wrote about writing (http://writinghood.com/writing/writing-a-good-article/), I touched a little bin on monetizing as well - and bloging and then I run into a message from another business friend and with her permission I am listing here her article.

How to Begin Blogging, Even if You Don't Know Where to Start

Recently, someone asked me a simple question: "How do I begin blogging?" That question reminded me that sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the details of online marketing that those of us who teach it forget to get back to basics.  However, many times those basic building blocks are exactly what our audience needs.  Blogging is a perfect example of this. 

There is a ton of information out there on blogging tips, how to publicize your blog, how to make money with your blog, how to link up your blog with social media sites and on and on.  But what if you just need the bare essentials so you can just get going?  Sometimes those basics end up lost in the sea of information.  Here's what you need to know to be on your way. (And yes, you will find others who say there are other ways to do it.  But in my own experience and from helping others get started, these few steps will get you set up right.)

1) Pick a blogging platform.  This may sound scary if you are an absolute blogging novice, but there are essentially two types of choices: hosted by someone else, or hosted by you (often referred to as self-hosted.)  You may have heard of Blogger.com, which is a very easy to use option that is hosted by Google.  It may be a good choice in terms of its simplicity, but I recommend going with a self-hosted platform such as Wordpress.  This can be downloaded for free at Wordpress.org.  Self-hosted options such as this allow you to have a lot more control over your blog and they give you a lot more flexibility, which you'll want in the long run.

2) Pick a name for your blog.  When you are getting started, the only real costs associated with a blog are the domain name and the hosting (which we will address next.) You can get a domain name from a site like GoDaddy for less than $10.00 a year.  But first, you need to think about what you will name your blog. A .com extension is always preferred over others such as .net or .info, and your name should be a reflection of what the main focus of your blog is.  Also, try to stay away from extra-long domain names, or those with hard-to-spell words if possible.

3) Pick a web host.  With a self-hosted blog, you will need a web hosting company to provide server space to access your website from.  Usually this service is relatively inexpensive for a smaller site; the average cost is around $60-$100 per year.  If you already have a website and just want to add a blog on to it, then you can remain with the host you have been using for that site.  In many cases, people who add a blog to their site simply have their web administrator make the blog another page of the website, accessed from your domain--for example, www.christineswebsite.com/blog. If your blog stands alone and is not connected to another site, you would install the blog software on your domain via any free FTP service you can find online, such as Filezilla.

4) Start writing.  Hopefully, at this point you will have taken some time to get pretty clear on what you want to talk about on your blog.  Commit to writing your first post, which can be as short as 200 words if you want it to be.  The idea is just to get going.  Don't worry about getting a bunch of readers or comments, about setting up an RSS feed, submitting your site to directories, or customizing your theme.  Those things are important, but can be investigated with time.  Continue writing posts on topics that you think will be helpful to your market, and before you know it, the whole blogging thing will be old hat. :)

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article on your website or your own e-zine? You can, as long as you include the following:

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.